Sciences

Every schoolchild is familiar with the peppered moth experiment that 'proves' natural selection: in the early 1950's a black variety of the moth thrived in industrial areas because camouflage on blackened trees protected it from predatory birds. However, these findings, now immortalised in our biology textbooks, were botched ... read more

Throw out your fossils

Imagine if water could absorb feelings and emotions or be transformed by thoughts. Imagine if we could photograph the structure of water at the moment of freezing and from the image "read" a message about the water that is relevant to our own health and well-being on the planet. Imagine if we could show the direct consequence... read more

'A humane discourse on the fragility of our minds, of the bodies that give rise to them, and of the world they create for us.' Daily Telegraph Oliver Sacks' compassionate tales of people struggling to adapt to different neurological conditions have fundamentally changed the way we understand our own minds. In Musicophilia, he... read more

A fascinating journey into the art of botany that combines the narrative of The Tulip with the science writing of Genome. A farmer cultivates genetically modified potatoes so that a customer at Mcdonald's half a world away can enjoy a long, golden french fry. A gardener plants tulip bulbs in the autumn and in the spring has... read more

Arguments that animals possess an emotional life are often dismissed as sentimental anthropomorphism. This book challenges that notion by proposing that the objective scientific evidence for human emotions is all but non-existent.

'Six degrees of separation' is a cliche, as is 'it's a small world', both cliches of the language and cliches of everyone's experience. We all live in tightly bonded social networks, yet linked to vast numbers of other people more closely than we sometimes think. Only in recent years, however, have scientists begun to apply i... read more

In this work, Sykes give us a first hand account of his research into a remarkable gene which passes undiluted from generation to generation. He claims that everyone of native European descent can trace their ancestry back to one of seven women, the seven daughters of Eve. Paperback (A-Format)

Did you know that 3 billion people worldwide live on less than $2 a day? Or that an average of 39 people are admitted to hospital in Britain every year for injuries involving tea-cosies?Numbers are peculiar animals. They can unlock secrets, split atoms, reveal the inner workings of people and machines, or draw patterns of jaw... read more

"The Rough Guide to Climate Change" is a complete, unbiased guide to one of the most pressing problems facing humanity. From the current situation and back ground science to the government sceptics and possible solutions, this book covers the whole subject. The guide looks at: visible symptoms of change from a warming planet;... read more

Our concern with the mind and how the hurt mind can be healed has led to a massive growth of interest in psychology and the way our brains work. The Bloomsbury Book of the Mind brings together key writings from all over the world from the earliest recorded accounts to the most up-to-date research in an imaginative assembly of... read more

This work presents an eye-opening and vital account of the future of our earth and our civilisation if current rates of global warming persist, by the highly acclaimed author of "High Tide". Picture yourself a few decades from now, in a world in which average temperatures are three degrees higher than they are now. On the edg... read more

From the author of "Seven Wonders of the Industrial World", this is the paperback edition of the TV tie-in charting the shocking but true story behind the space race - and the ruthless, brilliant scientists who fuelled it. With the end of the Cold War it is now possible to reveal its generation of secrets and cover-ups, bring... read more

From avalanches to glaciers and seals to snowflakes, from igloos to icebergs, permafrost to hoarfrost, chilblains to frostbite, Bill Streever unearths the consistent, ongoing influence of cold on the planet. Evoking history, myth, geography and ecology, Streever's quest for icy, forty-below cold gains purchase in July, while ... read more

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Facing the threat of climate change, the world community has to meet a major challenge: how to limit global emissions at the least possible cost to the welfare of this and future generations. But actual policy implementation throughout the OECD has been slowed by entrenched opposition from emission-intensive sectors of the ec... read more

Explores two questions that have haunted philosophers, neurologists, cognitive scientists and psychologists for centuries: how do brains construct minds, and how do minds become conscious? This work presents scientific evidence that consciousness - what we think of as self - is in fact a biological process created by the brain.

Acclaimed journalist and intrepid brain "explorer" Lone Frank embarks on an incredible adventure to the frontiers of neuroscience to reveal how today's top scientists are reinventing human nature, morality, happiness, health, and reality itself. Interlacing bizarre experiments, cutting-edge science, and irreverent interviews... read more

This is the book that Daniel Tammet, bestselling author and mathematical savant, was born to write. In Tammet's world, numbers are beautiful and mathematics illuminates our lives and minds. Using anecdotes and everyday examples, Tammet allows us to share his unique insights and delight in the way numbers, fractions and equati... read more

Imagine a field guide to all the animals you'd encounter on an African safari, but instead of looking at a photograph of them in the book you're reading, you're actually seeing a small film clip on the page of the animal in motion. It's a "PhoticularTM Book" - a lenticular-based technology that transfers fluid 4-color movies ... read more